Friday, March 15, 2024

Sticky hot fingers

Recently my family went crazy for faux caramel corn that I made with corn puffs. I saw this recipe with pretzels and decided they might like this too. While my kids aren't huge fans of chocolate - they do seem to love caramel. This toffee was a stick mess to make. Baking and leveling the pretzels was somewhat painful on the fingers but we pushed through and made these amazing butter toffee pretzels. I even took a tray and drizzled some chocolate on them - not all of them - just some. They were snacking these off the pans all morning while I waited for them to cool to put them in containers. Now I hear crunching walking past and know they are sneaking them past me. I take that as a compliment. I love when I make something and they enjoy it.

Butter Toffee Pretzels
8 cups (15 ounce bag) miniature pretzel twists
1 cup (200 g) brown sugar, packed
½ cup (1 stick / 113 g) salted butter
½ cup (170.5 g) light corn syrup
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon baking soda
Preheat oven to 250°F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
Spray a large bowl with cooking spray. Place pretzels in it. Set aside.
To a large saucepan over medium heat, add brown sugar, butter, corn syrup, salt, and vanilla. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring occasionally. This can take up to 8-10 minutes. Once boiling, remove from heat.
Whisk in the baking soda, continuing to whisk until the baking soda is dissolved. The mixture will bubble up and become foamy.
Pour the toffee mixture over the pretzels. Gently stir until all pretzels are coated.
Pour the coated pretzels evenly onto the two lined baking sheets, spreading them out into a single layer.
Bake for 60 minutes, gently stirring the pretzels occasionally, until darkened and dry.
Let the pretzels cool to room temperature before serving, stirring occasionally to prevent clumping. Enjoy!

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Friday Night with Stephanie

A half a pig is a lot of meat... not as much as a quarter of a cow - but certainly enough. Since we have fresh beautiful pork chops and apples still from our tree that need to go - this recipe seemed like a winner to me. It has a LOT of herbs and spices but it all worked together and was great. I even made this on a Friday night after a long hard week, it was amazing. Everyone pitched in - peeling sweet potatoes, nipping beans, setting the table. Everyone together made a great dinner.
We used 3 bone in chops and had extra sauce. I think you could do some potatoes and use the sauce to dress potatoes and veg to - we just aren't those people... at last me and the kids aren't... we like things separate. Certainly a winning meat that we will do again.
Oh and our pig's name is Stephanie. This summer when we were talking about getting this meat - the kids named the cow Jeffrey and the pig Stephanie. Yes... it's very weird. Just saying.

Apple Pork Chops
4 pork chops, see notes
Salt/Pepper
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
½ cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons butter
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 apple, sliced.
Sauce
2 cups chicken broth
3 tablespoons cornstarch
½ chicken bouillon cube
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon brown sugar
½ teaspoon EACH: dried thyme, dried oregano, mustard powder, onion powder, parsley
¼ teaspoon EACH: ground sage, cinnamon
1 pinch nutmeg, no more than a small pinch

Season each side of the pork chops with salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning. If possible, let them sit out at room temp for 35-45 minutes. This will give the salt a chance to penetrate through the meat and flavor it. It will also make the pork juicier. If you’re short on time: Season the pork chops just before searing.
Combine the chicken broth with the cornstarch and mix until well combined. Make sure the broth is not warm/hot so that you don’t activate the cornstarch. Mix in the remaining sauce ingredients and store in a cool place until ready to use.
Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the pork chops and sear 2 at a time for 2-3 minutes on the first side, and 1-2 minutes on the second side. Extra thick cuts can be seared a little longer, and smaller/leaner cuts can be seared more quickly. Set aside and let rest.
Turn the heat off and add the wine. Set heat to medium and use a silicone spatula to “clean” the bottom and sides of the skillet, the brown bits add more flavor to the sauce.
Add the butter and garlic. Simmer until the liquid is reduced by half, about 4 minutes.
Add the chicken broth mixture (from step 2 of prep work) and bring it to a boil to activate the cornstarch. It will thicken rather quickly once a boil is reached. Once desired thickness is obtained, reduce to a simmer.
Add the pork chops (and any juices from the plate), along with the apples. Spoon the sauce on top. Note: The apples will soften better if they're submerged in the sauce.
Cover and simmer gently for 5-8 minutes, or until the apples have softened and the pork is nearly 145° F.
Remove from heat and let the pork chops rest for 3-5 minutes, the internal temperature will increase a few more degrees and the juices will absorb.

Friday, March 8, 2024

It's all in the chips...

My favorite times to bake are when I'm not rushing and just baking for fun. These scones were baked for fun - not for any reason. I told the kids I didn't care if they ate any of them or just had cereal - these were for me. Andy is VERY leery of cinnamon chips. They Hershey variety are... weird. they are greasy and orange. These are from gygi.com and are SO different. They bake up like little pockets of cinnamon sugar goodness. So different than the Hershey's. Andy tasted a little bite and went back for an entire scone. Nicholas ate one warm and declared them amazing. Even Bronwyn ate a bite and said it was amazing. These are legit. These will be made again - and these chips purchased over and over - for sure. I will absolutely sit with a cup of chai tea and dip one of these into it, or just warm it up and eat it warm for dinner... like I did last night. So good.

Cinnamon Chip Scones
3 ½ cups (497 g) all-purpose flour
⅓ cup (71 g) sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
¾ cup (170 g) salted butter, cut into tablespoon-sized chunks
1 cup cold buttermilk
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
¾ cup (128 g) cinnamon chips (see note)
2 tablespoons butter, melted
Granulated sugar for sprinkling

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a large, rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
In a food processor (see note if you don’t have one), combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Pulse to combine. Add the butter and pulse until the butter is cut into smaller pieces – don’t overprocess here; the butter should be no smaller than pea-sized pieces.
Add the buttermilk and vanilla and pulse a couple of times until the dough starts to come together; don’t overmix – it’s ok if there are dry, crumbly spots here and there. Remove the blade and add the chips, using your hands to knead them in a bit. Turn the dough out onto a surface dusted with 1-2 tablespoons flour and combine the dough and chips together with your hands, kneading briefly, just 2-3 times, until it comes together. Pat and lightly press the dough into a long rectangle, about 15X3-inches.
Cut the length of dough into triangular wedges, about 12-14 and place on the baking sheet, about an inch apart. Brush the tops with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar.
Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes until just lightly golden brown and no longer doughy in the center.

Tuesday, March 5, 2024

17 years or 17 seconds


I'm still looking for a jar cookie mix that fits in the jar... I gave another one a try since I figured it had less than 2 cups of flour it might work. I had some time on a Tuesday after work to bake them up. Recently I had to get a new cookie scoop after almost 17 years with my trusty scoop. I accidentally dropped the other one and popped the pin out and could NOT for the life of me get it realigned. So I ordered a new one... a Wilton brand scoop. I figured why not pay for the good one hoping to get another 17 years out of it... well I got 17 seconds. It came out of the package terrible.... then I got 2 cookies scooped and it was misaligned and got stuck. So... fail... requested a replacement and used my spoons again. I've learned that I'm a much better cookie baker with my scoop. I'm not very consistent and make a giant mess. These cookies are the winner. They fit in the jar, they bake up a little flat - but that honestly could be the margarine I used and not butter because well... I'm a house without butter at the moment. I don't even know how that happened to be honest. That will be fixed today. I left the cookies on the tray to cool and everyone tried to snag one as they walked past. They are pretty delicious. Love it. I found a winner!! Now I need to do the math how much ingredients do I need to make 30 of these jars.... Yay math!

M&M Cookie Mix In A Jar

Ingredients
1 ½ cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup Holiday M&M’s or chocolate chips, see note
⅓ cup light brown sugar, packed
½ cup granulated sugar
1-quart Mason jar
Instructions
Assembling jars:
Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl. Pour into the bottom of a 1-quart mason jar (I rolled up a paper plate to use as a funnel). Top the flour mixture with M&M’s, dropping them in lightly, so that they don’t sink into the flour. Top the M&M’s with brown sugar, and then granulated sugar (use a spoon to carefully scoop the sugars into the jar). Seal with the lid and decorate with ribbon and fabric (see note).
Recipe to include with the jar (see note):
In a large bowl, whisk ½ cup of melted and cooled unsalted butter, 1 large egg, and 2 teaspoons vanilla extract. Add the contents of the jar and gently stir with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula until combined (dough will be crumbly). Chill for 30 minutes.
Form golf ball sized portions of dough, pressing firmly as you form the ball. Place the dough balls onto lined baking sheets. Bake at 350°F for 8-10 minutes, until the edges are set and the centers of the cookies are still slightly underdone. Place baking sheets on a rack to cool.

Friday, March 1, 2024

The secret to cookie success... it's not me...

I'm not sure I've ever baked a more flat cookie. Maybe it was because I made the dough ahead and refrigerated it for a few hours? Maybe because I used water and apple cider mix instead of actual apple cider? I'm not sure, at all... but wow were these flat. Also my size was terribly inconsistent since I dropped my trust scoop on the floor and it broke. I spent 45 minutes trying to get it back together and failed horribly... tossed it in the recycle bin and used spoons... LOTS of weird sized cookies. I hadn't realized my consistency had a lot to do with my scoop. I also couldn't get these off the pan. I had to let them cool entirely on the pans before I got them up. Aside from all that drama people really liked these cookies. I passed as I'm not great with apple cider aka allergies aka stupid... I brought the extra cookies to work and they flew off the tray. I'd say that's worth your effort to make these!

Apple Cider Cookies
2-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons apple pie spice
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons instant apple cider mix, divided
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup apple cider
1/4 cup molasses
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons Dixie Crystals Gold n Natural Turbinado

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking soda, apple pie spice, salt, and one tablespoon instant apple cider mix.
In a large bowl, cream together butter and one cup of sugar until light and fluffy. Add apple cider, molasses, egg, and vanilla extract, beat until smooth. Add flour mixture and beat until well combined.
In a small bowl, whisk together 1/4 cup sugar, two tablespoons instant apple cider mix and turbinado.
Scoop cookie dough with a medium-sized cookie scoop and place directly on prepared baking sheet. Leave room for spreading. This will be a softer dough, so a cookie scoop is a must. Sprinkle tops generously with sugar mixture.
Bake for 10 minutes and then let cool for 10 minutes before transferring to a rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
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